My life has always involved writing, more especially these days. Writing has been my passion, my true love. My work also involves writing.

Not only that, choosing words carefully and wisely in this real world has been more essential lately. We live in the social media era, where people (think they can) say whatever they feel like. It’s not just about human rights; it’s also about the consequences afterwards – whether you’re willing to pay for them or not.

May we always choose our words carefully...and wisely.

R. / WW.

THE(FEMALE)WORKERS' LATE-NIGHT BLUES

12/10/2008

In order to start this entry in a much cheerful way, I'll just begin with good news:
I've got a new cellphone from my family for my birthday gift.:D I love
it! Now I can start my artistic works with better gadgets. My old one
is already a bit shattered on the screen and the battery is dying
everyday. It's nice that they know what I really need.:)
Well, I've been teaching TE every Tuesday and Thursday night at seven.
It often finishes at sometime around 8:30 to nine (especially if we
start a bit late.:P) By the time I'm about to go home, it's kind of
hard for me to find the quickest ride home from the local public
transportations around. First, most fellow teachers don't share the
same destinations after that. (Sometimes I ride home with Jules in her
car after work until Bintaro's intersection, and then I can continue
from there with a public minivan. Jules lives in Bintaro, like Nezzie
too. But these days, Jules doesn't get TE classes.)
Second, oftentimes, the streets are much quieter after nine. Usually,
it takes quite some time for me before the public minivan for my
destination finally turns up.
And sometimes, I need to go to the 'net-bar' for this and every other
thing.:P I don't have the time to do that in the early morning. I have
gym classes or sometimes I need to go somewhere else.
*deep sigh*
I can totally understand that Mom worries so much about my safety out
there at night.:| In this stupid world of patriarchy, will women ever
get equal respect and safety as the outdoor, late-nighters? Sadly, I'm
afraid not. True, even in big cities like Jakarta.:( And I know damn
well it's not really about the gender. Mom often says she trusts me.
She knows I'm brave and independent enough to take care of myself. She
believes I know when it's time to watch my own back and defend.
She just doesn't trust the rest of the world out there with me. She's
also more than well-aware of my temper, which can get me in trouble
sometimes.
But what can I do? I can't just drop the class and ask the principal
to assign somebody else at work. And no, I won't. Hell fucking no!:x I
won't even give a shit if The Stupid Bill (UU APP)can
give me a hard time about it, especially since Ciputat is the corner of
Tangerang. They want to allege me with prostitution charges, just
because I happen to be a woman on the way home alone at night? Well,
they can all go fuck themselves to death!:x I never tolerate any kind
of slandering on women over petty excuses.
Those who support such stupidity keep saying that it won't happen like
that with women. Yeah, right.*rolls eyes* As if we were that stupid.
These days, all the either desperate or greedy souls can (and will) do
anything for (more) money. I mean, why the hell not?*sneers* The Stupid
Bill can always be freely multi-interpreted as they please, depending
on one's need. After all, that's the whole damn idea, right?
Two other female teachers who share the same shift as I do also fear
the same way The Stupid Bill might possibly impact them. One's planning
to drop her night-class, which I totally disagree. Why? If she did,
that would only mean agreeing to their partial opinion that no women
deserve real respect and safety out there at night. Besides, we're just
teachers - not prostitutes. Can't they tell the difference, or they're
just way too dumb, blind, and ignorant to notice what's already too
fucking obvious?The Author